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Shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma struggles to find a solid scientific foundation, largely because of a circularity confound, the same diagnostic features under study serve as the basis for categorising cases for research purposes. In an attempt to overcome this circularity, researchers have turned to confessions as a sorting criterion in the research, under the belief that confessions are independent of the diagnostic features and hence not subject to circularity. However, none of the research examines the nature and reliability of the confessions, or the interrogations that produce them; they simply accept the confessions as true, reliable, and independent. Research on interrogations and false confessions, however, along with extensive and wholly consistent anecdotal evidence, strongly suggest that SBS/AHT confessions are largely if not entirely produced by interrogator reliance on the diagnostic findings. That reliance undermines both the independence of the confessions, and hence their ability to break free from circularity, and the reliability of these confessions as a group. On the current state of knowledge, confessions cannot be relied upon to substitute for science to support the SBS/AHT hypothesis.
Since the early 2000s, a growing body of scientific studies in neuropathology, neurology, neurosurgery, biomechanics, statistics, criminology and psychology has cast doubt on the forensic reliability of medical determinations of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), more recently termed Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). Studies have increasingly documented that accidental short falls and a wide range of medical conditions, can cause the same symptoms and findings associated with this syndrome. Nevertheless, inaccurate diagnoses, unrealistic confidence expression, and wrongful convictions continue to this day. Bringing together contributions from a multidisciplinary expert panel of 32 professionals across 8 countries in 16 different specialties, this landmark book tackles the highly controversial topic of SBS, which lies at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With comprehensive coverage across multiple disciplines, it explains the scientific evidence challenging SBS and advances efforts to evaluate how deaths and serious brain injuries in infants should be analysed and investigated.
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